


Bulwark

by quiet__tiger



Category: The Batman (Cartoon)
Genre: Contemplative, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-04-23
Packaged: 2018-10-23 05:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10712859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Alfred muses over the new nickname.





	Bulwark

**Author's Note:**

> Set after The Batman episode Bird of Prey, picks up the next morning. Not necessary to watch it, relevant things are mentioned. Also references a flashback seen in Traction.
> 
> Prompt: "The Dark Knight."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 30th-Jul-2008.

Alfred Pennyworth picked up the newspaper from the front stoop and flipped it over to the front page. The headline was rather different from the anti-Batman propaganda that was usually present any time the media were exposed to the Batman: _Tough Night for the Dark Knight._ The article appeared to be about the Batman’s scuffle with that dastardly Penguin in Wayne Manor the previous evening.

He made his way upstairs to Master Bruce’s bedroom, where the young billionaire was doing push ups in his underwear. “Good morning, sir. The paper came.” He handed it over when Bruce stood, smiling at him.

“Good morning, Alfred.” He glanced at the paper, then turned back to it to read it more closely. “I guess Melanie Bramwell decided to go with that idea...”

“And what was that, sir?” Alfred set about making Bruce’s bed.

“She liked the term ‘dark night’ when her cameraman used it to explain why he might not have gotten good footage. I guess she decided that calling me ‘The Batman’ all the time would get tiresome. Must have called me that on the late news, paper picked it up.” He rubbed his chin. “The Dark Knight. I kind of like the ring of that.”

“Sounds rather ominous to me, sir.”

“You don’t think it sounds cool?”

Alfred couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows; he loved Master Bruce, he was smart and driven and strong, but sometimes he was rather dense. “In the stories, sir, it is the white knight who is the hero. The dark knight is the villain.”

Bruce pouted as if he weren’t twenty-six years old. “I’m the good guy. The city will come around.” He smiled again. “And just last night the Batman saved playboy Bruce Wayne’s trusted butler.”

“And he’s grateful, I’m sure.”

Earnestly, Bruce answered, “Of course. What would he do without him?”

Alfred raised his eyebrows. “I often ask myself that very question, Master Bruce.”

Bruce grinned at him and ducked his head, a gesture rarely seen anymore among the businessman, philanthropist, and the Batman. But even now, with Bruce being any one of those persons at any given time, Alfred was reminded of the boy this man in front of him used to be.

Bruce turned back to the paper and his brow furrowed as he read through the article again. “I do like it, Alfred. I’m a defender, champion, all that stuff knights are. I stand up for what I believe in. My costume just happens to have a long, black cape...”

“That _is_ true, sir. You are certainly _my_ champion.”

Bruce raised his eyebrow. “Thanks.” He bent at the waist to stretch his back, then straightened again. “I’m going to go take a shower.” He placed the paper on his freshly-made bed and went into the bathroom.

Alfred retrieved the paper and read the article for himself. Nowhere did the new nickname seem to be an indication of true fear and discontent, but one could never be too sure. The media, law enforcement, and the city in general did not support the Batman, and an inauspicious nickname such as the Dark Knight might be the first step to the demise of the vigilante Alfred worked so hard to protect.

Though he at times despised the Batman, such as when he had to retrieve a Bruce too injured to return home on his own, or when Bruce had to vacate organized functions and leave his butler/excuse rolodex/valet to explain away his disappearance, or when Bruce had a lapse in confidence and stared out the window pondering his use to the world as either Bruce Wayne or The Batman, though Alfred despised those moments, he did have faith that Batman did bring good into the world, even though the means to that end at times seemed dubious.

He made a promise to Bruce long ago, and no matter how difficult life got for Bruce and himself because of the Batman, Alfred would support his charge. He had promised an eight-year-old Bruce he’d never leave his side, and he wasn’t going to break it _now_.

He came to the end of the article, where it mentioned that Bruce had been out entertaining a female friend while his home was being ransacked. Bruce was so often presented in such a dreadful light, foppish and silly, lazy and young.

No one ever saw the Bruce that Alfred did, brave and careful, magnanimous and serious. Dark perhaps, certainly secretive and gloomy at times, but surely a knight of most noble order, even if no one else in Gotham _really_ understood that truth.

“Hmm. Perhaps ‘the dark knight’ is spot-on after all.” Alfred found himself warming up to the nickname despite his earlier misgivings.

Knight or Bat, Alfred would be there for the man behind the costume. That was where he belonged, providing whatever assistance was needed. That costumed man was only as good as his support, and Alfred wasn’t going to let Gotham crumble if he had any say in it.


End file.
